New owners of Whanganui Boating Centre aim to keep the business growing

The Kellys have made the switch from loyal customer to owner.

Lance and Isabel Kelly moved to Whanganui four years ago from Taihape after many years of farming and have recently taken over as owners of Whanganui Boating Centre on Heads Rd.

Lance Kelly said that while their new venture had happened fairly quickly, he had been coming to the shop for the previous two years.

"I'm an avid fisherman and an avid boatie.

"Andre Lewer and Steve Taylor (marine technician) are absolutely key people here.

"I did my apprenticeship as a motorbike mechanic many, many years ago, so I have a bit of experience as well.

"I guess I'll be a bit of a dogsbody around the place, fixing things where I can."

Kelly said he was excited and enthusiastic about being involved.

"There's a great opportunity in Whanganui for a good, straightforward, boating centre, and we've got a lot of thoughts and ideas about where we can grow the business to."

Isabel Kelly said that while the couple were semi-retired in Whanganui, they needed something new to "sink their teeth into".

"We really enjoyed farming when we were doing it, but after 30-odd years you start to look at something else in life," she said.

"The opportunity was there, so we took it.

"Farming gets a bit hard on the body after a while, and we have a good manager running our farm, so we thought we'd ease off a bit and look around for another project.

"This one ticked the boxes, especially as Lance is a really keen fisherman."

The business was established five years ago by Andre Lewer, and he said that Whanganui would continue to see an increase in interest from boaties.

"It's taken a while for us to get here, and it doesn't happen overnight.

"More and more people are wanting to fish out of here, and the population is growing as well.

"There'd be a couple of hundred boats out of Whanganui on a good day, and they come from as far as Wellington.

"We've got a good client base and we're a Suzuki dealer, so there is definitely an opportunity there to grow it even more."